There is a very interesting Time Magazine article this morning on the relevance of Europe in the 21st century. If your future is in Europe this article is well worth your time.

“It was supposed to be the moment Europe grew muscles. Last fall, after a decade of work to simplify policymaking and make the European Union more efficient at home and stronger abroad, the last few holdouts signed a 1,000-page document known as the Lisbon Treaty. In November, the E.U.'s first real President and Foreign Minister were chosen. Europhiles dusted off their familiar dream: of a newly emboldened world power stepping up to calm trouble spots, using aid and persuasion where it could, but prepared to send in troops when it had to. Brussels would lead the fight against climate change. And Europe's economies would prove to the ruthless free markets of North America and Asia that the social market still offers the best way out of an economic crunch.

The dream didn't last a month.”

Click here to read more

Tags: Europe

I found this map on IMB’s website a few months ago but just never got around to posting it. You’ve probably seen it as many times as I have but I keep it around as a reminder of why we’re doing what we’re doing. That little country just north of Africa is where we’re moving, the lack of light is why.

Tags: Europe, Evangelism, Missions, Why Europe

Sometimes I wonder if posting reason after reason for Missions in Europe is actually productive? Of course, much of what is written in the news in America could be used as cannon fodder for why ministry ought to be done in one place or another. But the sheer amount of short-sightedness on European affairs forces my hand. So many people I meet simply don’t have a clue about what’s going on in Europe (or any other part of the world for that matter). Some of that is caused by a lack of information here in the U.S. Watch and compare any news report from another part of the world to our so called “news” and the difference is obvious. Our media congloms simply don’t report the happenings elsewhere in the world, they’re too busy running another 15 minutes of ED ads featuring two people sitting outside in a tub!

For the 3 of you that do care, there was a report posted on drudgereport.com tonight about health care practices in Britain that seemed to illustrate the utter bankruptcy of the naturalistic mindset. Patients in Britain nearing what their doctors claim to be their “final hours” are monitored by a team of doctors in order to determine when it is time to for them to die.

“Developed by Marie Curie, the cancer charity, in a Liverpool hospice it was initially developed for cancer patients but now includes other life threatening conditions. It was recommended as a model by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the Government’s health scrutiny body, in 2004.

It has been gradually adopted nationwide and more than 300 hospitals, 130 hospices and 560 care homes in England currently use the system. Under the guidelines the decision to diagnose that a patient is close to death is made by the entire medical team treating them, including a senior doctor. They look for signs that a patient is approaching their final hours, which can include if patients have lost consciousness or whether they are having difficulty swallowing medication.

However, doctors warn that these signs can point to other medical problems. Patients can become semi-conscious and confused as a side effect of pain-killing drugs such as morphine if they are also dehydrated, for instance.”

There is a huge catastrophe brewing in Europe as naturalism and secular humanism mature. No longer relegated to debate in institutions of higher learning, these humanist philosophies have turned up in governmental policies. Under a naturalistic worldview, people have no intrinsic worth. They are a product of chance who’s survival is determined by their relative strength. Hence, the scandal that a weak, infirm, or sick individual’s survival is actually up for discussion by a team of physicians! This isn’t a policy issue this is a moral issue.

By contrast Jesus taught that every single person possesses intrinsic moral worth as a man or woman made in the image of God. We die when we die, and until that time comes we do everything in our power to serve our fellow God reflections including the ill and infirm. Europe needs Jesus because it isn’t simply a policy that needs changing but a shift in worldview.

Tags: Europe, Missions